Wales welcomes long-awaited Seabird Conservation Strategy

Following a seven-year long campaign, the Seabird Conservation Strategy for Wales, published by the Welsh Government this week, could be a critical lifeline for Wales’ seabirds. Here’s all you need to know.

The Welsh Seabird Conservation Strategy is a crucial policy aimed at protecting seabird populations in Wales. Focusing on habitat protection, addressing threats and encouraging collaboration between stakeholders, the strategy aims to ensure the long-time survival of the most important and threatened seabirds.

Seabirds are the most threatened bird group in the world, and a shocking 62% of UK seabird species are in decline.

Wales hosts globally important seabird colonies:

• Over half of the global population of breeding Manx Shearwater nest in underground burrows on Welsh islands.
• RSPB Grassholm Island, in Pembrokeshire, remains one of the largest Gannet colonies in the world, despite the devastating impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
• Wales is also home to the largest Arctic Tern colony in the UK, located on the lower lying Skerries, an islet off the coast of Anglesey.

• The strategy recommendations are based upon the results of hundreds of assessments, looking at the vulnerability of seabirds to pressures in Wales.
• This is a live document – with regular review periods planned, so that new evidence can be taken into account.
• For some pressures, there is limited evidence on the impact of seabirds in Wales. However, the strategy highlights important research needs.

• The strategy does not take into account future threats to seabirds. As such the regular review periods will be essential.
• Following a prioritisation exercise, the recommendations do not cover all threats facing seabirds. However, we hope over time, more recommendations will be added as action is taken upon this first set of priorities.
• Currently there is no dedicated funding for the strategy. We will continue to call for this, to ensure that the actions can be delivered.

In 2018, when it was clear that a strategy wasn’t forthcoming from the Welsh Government, RSPB Cymru turned to its wonderful members, supporters and campaigners – who rallied into action across multiple campaigns, spanning a number of years. Your voice and unwavering support has helped to reach this significant milestone.

Although the strategy is a step in the right direction, urgent action is still needed to address the overall status of Wales’ marine environment, including:

• The creation of Marine Protected Areas, including Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds and Marine Conservation Zones, to address gaps in the protections for seabirds and other marine wildlife and habitats, as well as contributing to ‘30 by 30’ (the target to protect 30% of land and 30% of sea for nature by 2030).
• An uplift in funding for monitoring and management of marine protected sites, informed by the condition assessments of Welsh Marine Protected Areas and this week's published Welsh Seabird Conservation Strategy.
• Marine planning to reduce the threats seabirds face. Delivering conservation action for seabirds whilst they are at sea is challenging – it’s much more effective to prioritise prevention of damage. Therefore, carefully planning how and where human activities (such as offshore energy developments) take place is vital.
• Investment in marine surveys to improve the understanding of seabirds and their prey species, and to inform spatial marine planning and conservation. This investment is long overdue, with gaps in knowledge a frequent barrier to informed decision-making about marine issues.
• A long-term solution to ensuring the biosecurity of seabird islands, keeping seabird colonies free from invasive mammalian predators. This will allow more chicks to survive to adulthood and help counter declining populations

• Introducing Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) for large fishing boats to ensure the impacts of fishing activities on seabirds, their food sources and other sealife are better monitored and understood.

 

Let’s hope this is a positive move towards a future where our seabirds are not only protected but able to thrive.